Rashaud
Rashaud Trice was still a new student at the Durham Performance Learning Center when Principal Danny Gilfort called Trice’s dad and sat them down to talk. For Trice, the PLC represented a second chance: during two years at a large, traditional high school, his grades spiraled as Trice skipped classes and put most of his efforts into being popular. Principal Gilfort didn’t notice much of a change during Trice’s first few weeks at the Durham PLC.
The conference with Gilfort was a turnaround because Trice realized his principal saw him as more than a number in a student file. "That was the first time in my life I was ever called to the principal’s office," he says. "It really affected me. It makes you feel like you’re somebody – like the principal really cares."
The intimate setting at the PLC made Trice more accountable to his teachers and helped him focus on his studies. He graduated in January and is enrolled in the criminal justice track at Durham Technical College, with a long-range career plan that includes employment in the federal law-enforcement sector.
"I probably wouldn’t have graduated without the PLC," he says.
Pamela
Growing up, Pam White was a slow reader – a student who struggled to keep up with classmates as she tried to absorb the meaning in her books. "I missed a lot. I just felt like I was one of those kids who didn’t have a good, solid education." White became a teacher because she wanted to help kids who faced the same struggle.
Pamela White currently works as a literacy coach and READS coordinator at Eastway Elementary School, a Title 1 school in one of Durham’s most challenged communities. White and her colleagues are faced with issues of high poverty within the student population - children often rely on hand-me-down clothes and used supplies. White notes that the Durham READS program, which provides 10 free new books to participants, helps to keep students’ reading skills sharp over the summer so teachers don’t have to review old material in the fall.
"When they get these books in the mail – when that package arrives at their house, addressed to them – it makes them feel important and special. I think you treasure it more when it’s yours. There’s a lot of excitement in having your own book."
Tifany
Tifany Ross learned about The Incredible Years initiative from a teacher at Eastway Elementary School, where her twin sons Donte and Deonte will start second grade in the fall. The class encouraged her to deflect disruptive behavior by ignoring it and to stick to punishments when she takes away privileges such as playtime. Some of the results – more attentive behavior from the boys and a better ability to quiet down and listen – have paid off in the classroom as well as at home, Ross says.
She remembers one incident when she used some of the lessons learned in The Incredible Years course. Her 8-year-old son Donte was in his room, yelling that he didn’t want to go to sleep after bedtime. Instead of getting angry at him, she simply ignored Donte’s whining. She let him continue as she prepared for bed… That’s when then she heard his twin, Deonte, tell him, "I don’t think Mommy wants to hear that tonight!"
"They’re listening," Ross says, with a laugh. "They have their own way of listening, but they are listening." Later, she peeked in on Donte to find he’d fallen asleep, despite the fuss. "It didn’t hurt him," Ross notes. "It didn’t hurt me. And I didn’t have to yell."
"This class has taught me so much, there aren’t enough words to describe it."
